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BETTER FRUIT 



Published Monthly 

 by 



Better Fruit Publishing Company 



406 Lumber Exchange Building 

 PORTLAND, OREGON 



JERROLD OWEN General Manager 



C I MOODY Advertising Manager 



EDWIN C. WILLIAMS ...... 



San Francisco Representative , Hobart Bldg. 



EDITOR: W. H. WALTON 

 STATE ASSOCIATE EDITORS 



OREGON— C. I. Lewis, Horticulturist. 



WASHINGTON— Dr. A. L. Melander, Eento- 

 mologist; O. M. Morris, Horticulturist, Pull- 

 man. 



COLORADO— C. P. Gillette, Director and Ento- 

 mologist; E. B. House. Irrigation Expert, State 

 Agricultural College. Fort Collins. 



ARIZONA — F. J. Crider, Horticulturist, Tuscon. 



MONTANA— H. Thornber. Victor. 



CALIFORNIA— C. W. Woodworth. Entomolo- 

 gist Berkeley; W. H. Volck, Entomologist, 

 Watsonville; Leon D. Batchelor, Horticulturist, 

 Riverside. , _ , 



INDIANA— H. S. Jackson, Pathologist, Lafayette. 



All Communications should be addressed and 



Remittances made payable to 



BETTER FRUIT PUBLISHING COMPANY 



Subscription Price: 



In the United States, $1.00 per year in advance. 



Canada and Foreign, including postage, $2.00, 



payable in American exchange. 



Advertising Rates on Application. 



Absorbing the Profits 



As the season draws to a close for 

 handling and distributing the 1920 fruit 

 crop it becomes more and more apparent 

 that the small margin of profit and in 

 many instances losses that have been 

 sustained by the fruitgrowers of the 

 Northwest is largely due to the big ad- 

 vance in freight rates. This has been 

 particularly the case with the box apple 

 industry, the freight rate advance tak- 

 ing the difference between a loss and a 

 profit to the growers. 



Inasmuch as this industry is one of 

 the most profitable in the way of reve- 

 nue that the railroads handle from the 

 Northwest and that its continuance will 

 be jeopardized by the maintenance of 

 these high rates, the railroads should 

 take action to reduce them. They have 

 already announced a reduction of the 

 rates on lumber from the Northwest. 

 Why not on fruit? With the rail lines 

 absorbing all the profits of the growers 

 it is not difficult to see what will hap- 

 pen to the fruit growing industry of the 

 Pacific Northwest. 



It is hoped that before another sea- 

 son for the heavy shipping of fruit 

 rolls around that these prohibitive rates 

 will be reduced. Let the railroads make 

 the announcement of a reduction in the 

 near future, thereby stimulating and 

 reviving an industry that is second to 

 none in making for prosperity on the 

 Pacific Coast. 



BETTER FRUIT 



Farm Homes 



In a statement recently made by Miss 

 Abby L. Marlatt, director of home eco- 

 nomics at the University of Wisconsin, 

 she sounded an important note by say- 

 ing that "farm homemaking is no less 

 fundamental to the welfare of the na- 

 tion than is farming." In taking up the 

 subject of farm homemaking Miss Mar- 

 latt's idea is that the farm home should 

 contain as many of the conveniences and 

 comforts as possible in order that it will 

 prove attractive to the younger members 

 of the family in addition to lightening 

 the burdens of farm women. 



To illustrate the lack of modern 

 equipment and the difficulties under 

 which farm women work, Miss Marlatt 

 shows that a survey of 10,000 farm 

 homes disclosed the fact that the aver- 

 age working day of the farm housewife 

 averaged 11.3 hours a day with prac- 

 tically no vacation. Kerosene lamps 

 were found in three-fourths of the 

 homes studied, while only one-third of 

 them had running water and a still 

 smaller number provided with hot water 

 systems and other conveniences. 



While the absence of these conven- 

 iences is not so great in a number of 

 the orchard districts of the Northwest, 

 still there is room for a great deal of 

 improvement along this line, particu- 

 larly in the way of water and light sys- 

 tems, which in many instances could be 

 provided at a nominal cost. In these 

 days when the young people in the agri- 

 cultural districts are flocking to the 

 cities it is just as important to keep the 

 boy or girl on the fruit ranch as it is on 

 the farm. One of the most effective 

 ways to do it is to make their home life 

 as attractive as possible, as well as to 

 give the women of the household at least 

 a partial release from drudgery, by the 

 use of labor saving equipment. To raise 

 the standard of the farm home farm 

 women must have a certain amount of 

 leisure. 



April, 1921 



tion that has been taken in regard to 

 assisting the producers of many of the 

 other soils crops in getting a better and 

 more economical system of distributing 

 and marketing their products. Organ- 

 ized along the right lines and with 

 men of experience and intelligence in 

 the fruit industry and in marketing at 

 the head of it such an organization 

 should prove of vast assistance to the 

 local cooperative associations. 



It will be necessary, however, for a 

 more widespread organization of local 

 cooperative fruit handling bodies than 

 has yet been the case in order to insure 

 success. While the Pacific Northwest 

 has made long strides in this direction 

 it needs the support of the Eastern 

 fruitgrowing districts. Of late these 

 Eastern districts seem to have become 

 aroused in regard to cooperation and 

 indications are that they will join in the 

 movement to secure the organization of 

 a nation-wide body that it is hoped will 

 go a long way in its operations to solve 

 many of the marketing and other prob- 

 lems that are now working to the dis- 

 advantage of the fruitgrower. 



National Cooperation 



With the organization of cooperative 

 fruit selling associations in many sec- 

 tions of the country the proposal to 

 form a national organization, which has 

 been undertaken by the American Farm 

 Bureau Federation, follows out the ac- 



Spraying 



The spraying season has commenced, 

 although growers have been hampered 

 considerably by weather conditions. 

 However, from now on, the most im- 

 portant sprays will have to be 

 applied for the various pests and grow- 

 ers should bear in mind that spraying is 

 an important operation not to be looked 

 upon lightly or neglected, but an insur- 

 ance that means clean fruit and there- 

 fore profit at the end of the season. 



Spraying is a subject that is very fre- 

 quently called to the attention of the 

 grower, so frequently, in fact, that it 

 would seem that all that can be said 

 about it had been said, and yet each 

 year sees large quantities of diseased 

 and inferior fruit harvested in even 

 some of the most progressive districts. 

 Reports also show that notwithstanding 

 a more or less rigid inspection in many 

 fruitgrowing districts a considerable 

 quantity of it finds its way to market. 

 If you are inclined to neglect some 

 phase of orchard practice do not let it 

 be in regard to spraying. Protect your- 

 self and your orchard by getting the 

 sprays on at the right time. 



